Yahoo Finance Boris Johnson unveils plan to mandate electric car charging points in new homes
Prime minister Boris Johnson on Monday unveiled a plan to require all new homes and buildings in England to install electric vehicle (EV) charging points from 2022.
The move will see around 145,000 charging points installed across the country each year, with new-build supermarkets, workplaces and buildings also included in the plans.
The shift to EV in the UK comes amid a push to change the face of the auto industry, as the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2030.
Johnson's speech at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference on Monday morning said: "This is a pivotal moment - we cannot go on as we are.
"We have to adapt our economy to the green industrial revolution."
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Transport will change rapidly in the next decade driven by consumers, the prime minister said, noting that business must embrace the challenge.
Speaking of the UK's return to the office, he said: "Mother nature does not like working from home... they will come back [...] they will come back."
Alongside mandated charging points, the government will also introduce easier ways to pay to recharge. These will be introduced at all the new and rapid charge points.
Meanwhile opposition leader Keir Starmer is set to attack the government's plans at the gathering, with a speech saying Johnson's administration has “no industrial strategy and no business plan."
Labour also criticised the move as not going far enough, as it failed to address the geographical divide in available charging points.
"London and the South East have more public car charging points than the rest of England and Wales combined. Yet there is nothing here to help address this.
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"Nor is there help so lower and middle income families can afford electric vehicles or the investment required to build the gigafactories we need," Labour said before the speech.
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